Rhythms
by WingedFlight
Summary: Fifteen years of living in another world, of finding their place, of learning to follow the rhythms of Narnia. An un-chronological collection of one-shots following Jill and Eustace and their years in Narnia. SCAUverse.
1. Must Come to an End

**A Brief Explanation of the SCAUverse:** The entire premise for this verse is that after the events of the Silver Chair, Jill and Eustace were not taken back to Spare Oom, but rather stayed in Narnia to help Rilian prove that he was the true heir to the throne, and after that, to help him in matters of running the country. That is not to say that they became king and queen alongside Rilian - rather, they became a part of his cabinet of advisors, acted as ambassadors, and generally helped with keeping the country together and avoiding diplomatic disputes. A more extensive look at the SCAUverse can be found by following a link on my profile which leads to a constantly evolving Timeline.

I shall be posting all one-shots here to keep them together for convenience. They will not be in chronological order, but will follow where my inspiration leads. I hope all you readers enjoy and stick around!

-x-

**Title: **Must Come to an End  
**Summary: All things must come to an end at some time. Jill just wishes the end were not coming so soon.**  
_**A/N: **This particular one-shot was written as a meme response for _Metonomia, and was first published through my livejournal.

-x-

Eustace's eyes shine too bright from the fever. His hair is slicked back with perspiration, his skin hot to the touch, and his lips dry and peeling. Jill tries to tend him as best she can with cool cloths and water, but she knows – oh, how she knows! – that this can't go on much longer.

She tries not to look down at his poor, bandaged legs, both of them too stiff from the splints, but she cannot help but see the way the blood has soaked through. When she covers them with blankets, Eustace worries them away again in his restless sleep.

"This cannot last," the healer whispers in the dark of night, and Jill rests her forehead on the side of Eustace's pillow to hide her tears.

A pigeon has been sent to Cair Paravel requesting the Holy Cordial. Jill finds herself checking the window too many times in hopes of a response, even though she knows there is no way the bird would have made the distance in so short a time. She finds herself counting heartbeats, counting breaths, squeezing Eustace's hand in her own and willing him to wake up.

"It will not be long, now," the priest murmurs in the hall, and Jill pretends she cannot hear.

When dawn arrives with a pink-flushed sky and a splash of gold, Aslan is there. Jill finds herself crying all over again, choking so hard on her tears she cannot speak. She wants to beg the Lion for his help, beg him to heal Eustace, but the words are stuck in her throat as she sobs.

"Be at peace, dear one," Aslan tells her, and as he speaks it seems that the hand she holds is a little less hot. She looks up to him with hope in her eyes and is startled by the tear she finds gleaming against golden fur.

Everything around her seems to blur, as if Aslan has taken a deep breath and blown the house and the hills and the sky away. Jill holds tight to Eustace's hand, wary that he might disappear, too.

"It is time for the two of you to return home," the Lion explains gently. Around her, becoming clearer the more Jill looks, is a forest she has not laid eyes on for many years – not since that day Eustace pulled open the door at the back of the school yard.

"But – I don't understand," Jill manages. And then Eustace sits up, and he is no longer a grown man, but a boy once again. And Jill sees the door in the wall behind him, and everything becomes clear.

-x-


	2. Deadly

_**A/N: **__One-shot number two is here faster than I'd expected. Not the one I've been working on so long, but I like it nonetheless._

-x-

**Title: **Deadly  
**Summary: **Rilian says not to trust the mermaids, but Jill can't quite bring herself to believe him.

-x-

Mermaids are especially dark creatures. Perhaps it comes from living in the dim corners of the ocean, of naturally learning to defend themselves from sharks and kraken and the other types of sea monsters that dwell in the deep. To look at them from afar, as Jill had the first time she saw one of the aquatic race, they look just as mermaids are described in fairy stories - their tails covered in silver scales that glimmer in the light as if covered in rainbows, their hair loose and long and sleek, their skin gleaming as they surface. Jill had found herself leaning closer to the edge of the cliff, hoping the mermaids might come nearer and she might see them better, but they disappeared from sight all too soon.

When she later speaks to Eustace about them, she expects to hear all sorts of tales about the mermaids he had seen on his voyage to the edge of the world. But he tells her he had never seen any, ever. The one time he came closest, he says, was when the Dawn Treader passed over a hunting - or perhaps a better word was fishing - party of royalty, but these sea people had not been able to surface. Besides, he adds, he had not actually seen them, just heard about them later. So he is fairly jealous when he learns Jill had spotted sea folk off the coast of Cair Paravel, and she is only able to mollify him when she adds that it had been at a distance and not for very long.

When she speaks to Rilian a short time later, on one of those evenings when the three of them are sitting outside on the balcony and watching the stars - Eustace say he can almost hear them singing, which Jill would have said was all rot if she hadn't known he'd actually met a star once - she is told to be careful of the sea folk.

"Dangerous," he says shortly, and turns his head away from the sky to show just how serious he was. "Never trust a mermaid."

"But why not?" she asks in surprise. "They looked so beautiful-"

"Beautiful and deadly," he responds. "Their song puts men in a trance until they drown themselves in a search for true love. If you are ever near one of the sea folk, be wary."

She does not argue, but all the same, she finds she is not quite able to believe him, either. She has met several naiads already, in the time she had been at Cair Paravel, and all of them are cheerful and kind, if a bit giddy and silly at times. The naiads appear to be quite similar to mermaids, too - Jill had once thought that they could turn to water at a whim, and only took human form for convenience, but it turned out that the human-like form is how they are all the time. Naiads have two legs, rather than a tail, and each limb has a long ridge of toughened skin that works as a fin, and their fingers and toes are webbed. Their hair is white or blond or, occasionally, tinted with green. Their skin is nearly white, for instead of red blood, it is clear water that runs through their veins.

After meeting the naiads, silly and giggling as they are, it is so very hard to imagine that mermaids, which look so very much alike but for the tail, could be so very different.

It is near sunset a few days later when Jill and Eustace are taking a stroll on the beach. They do not often get to do this, as much as they would have liked, for as members of the court and of Rilian's council, there are a great many duties that have to be attended to. (In some places, children of their age would still be in schools or studying under tutors. But as Jill and Eustace have come from Beyond World's End and have already found the lost prince, not to mention proven themselves in the Third Battle of Beruna, the Narnians find it easy to look past their age and give them proper duties. Not that studies and learning are discontinued for them, much to Eustace's dismay.)

The sun is just touching the horizon when Jill looks out over the water by chance, and then she gives a great yelp and gripps Eustace's arm in surprise. "Look! Look there!" she cries, and he turns, but whatever it was she had been pointing to is gone. He most likely would have gone into a bit of a sulk over missing it, but at that moment, a head appears in the water, and a moment later the two children find themselves staring into the eyes of a mermaid.

"Hello," Jill says immediately, and Eustace grabs her arm and whispers for her to hush because he remembers what Rilian had said. But Jill does not quite believe that mermaids could be so dangerous, and in looking at the mermaid, Eustace can not quite, either.

The head disappears underwater again, and the children almost think that it is gone for good when it surfaces once more, only a very short distance away from the shore now. They can see the mermaid much clearer now, for the sun is setting behind them and casting a good amount of light over the creature. Her hair is red - either that, or it looks red in the light - and her skin white like the naiads', but quite shockingly, the mermaid's eyes are black. It looks almost as if the mermaid has giant pupils and no irises, or else thick irises and no pupils. Only a thin ring of white surrounds the black, and it looks as though she is staring not just at them, but _in_ them.

The mermaid does not say anything, but reaches out a hand as if she wants to touch the children. Jill unconsciously takes a step closer, and Eustace with her. The mermaid puts her hand down and tilts her head as though studying the children intently; whatever she sees, she must like, for her face breaks into a smile. And while on most people, a smile is quite a wonderful thing to behold, here, the children both gasp and leap back, for the mermaid has two rows of sharp, pointed teeth that are uneven and jagged and not very white.

The mermaid stops smiling and puts out her hand again longingly; Jill notes that her fingers are webbed like a naiad, although they are much longer. For some reason, she shivers, and then pulls her cloak tighter around her shoulders as though just noticing the cool of the evening air. And then the mermaid lowers her hand once more, and opens her mouth again -

A skittering of pebbles sounds from the end of the beach, and the mermaid flips about and there is one flash of her tail in the light of the sunset. And then all that is left is a pattern of ripples against the gentle motion of the waves.

"You've seen a mermaid, then," Rilian says as he comes near. Jill and Eustace both turn to him slowly, as if they have just woken up or come out of a trance. Rilian smiles grimly. "Be careful around them," he cautions, "You might not be so lucky next time." And Jill looks at Eustace and sees that his face is white, and wonders if hers is the same.

-x-


	3. Blizzard Tidings

**Title: **Blizzard Tidings

**Summary: **It is Christmas, and Eustace and Jill are shivering together in a tent in the midst of a blizzard in the midst of a campaign.

**Chronology: **This occurs soon after the events of the _Silver Chair_. As background information, Rilian was crowned soon after the death of his father but riots sprung up throughout Narnia, instigated by those who believed the newly-returned prince was an imposter. The worst of these riots was in the town of Beruna, to which Rilian, Eustace, Jill, and a division of the army are currently on their way.

**A/N: **_This would be a Christmas one-shot that I wrote at the beginning of November and meant to post over the holidays… except I forgot. So, it's now a month after Christmas but better late than never, yes? _

-x-

There is a terrific storm outside the tent. Eustace lays on his cot and listens to the whistling of the wind and the sound of snow being thrown against the fabric walls. He wonders what would happen if the entire structure were to just collapse without warning - would he suffocate beneath the weight of fabric and snow, or would there be an air pocket to sustain him until help arrived?

If he could push away his illogical fears for long enough, he'd have an easier time believing the tent to be safe. He'd watched the satyrs drive the pins in the ground and tie the ropes; he'd offered to help, even, but had been assured that everything was taken care of. And this was certainly not the first tent they had ever pitched, judging by how efficient the chaps had been about the whole matter. Logic should dictate that there is little chance of structural failure. And besides, Jill is clearly not bothered at all.

He rolls about onto his stomach and looks across the tent to her - it really is not at all that far a distance because the tent is so very small. The end of her cot is at the head of his, meaning he has to lift his head to look over the lump in the blanket where her legs are hidden. He cannot quite see what she is doing, but he can tell that it involves a book. If not reading, she is probably writing in her journal, a habit picked up since their return to Cair Paravel with Rilian. Only he cannot hear the scratching of pen tip to paper, which means she is reading after all.

Eustace raises himself up on his elbows to get a better look. Jill does not even bother to look up, probably because she is so engrossed in her reading. He knows better than to wait for her to speak but also knows from prior experience not to try talking himself. So he watches the careful way Jill reads, with a finger following the words as if afraid she might lose her place at any time and her tongue just barely showing in the corner of her mouth. She squints and rereads one paragraph again - he can tell because her finger slides back up the page - and then sits back to ponder something.

"Scrubb," she says abruptly, "Today can't be the thirty fourth day of the month already, can it?"

He does the math in his head and then nods a response. Jill frowns deeper and then flips the book around so that it faces him. Her finger points to the place she had just been reading. "Because it says here that today is Christmas!"

"Christmas?" He bends over the book and finds that Jill was reading a list of Narnian holidays. There are quite a lot of them, most of which appear to be either religious or fertility based, while others seem to be nothing more than a chance for a good party. And sure enough, Jill's finger rests above the entry for Christmas.

"Don't you think it is odd," Jill comments as he scans the entry, "that there is a Christmas here at all? I mean, we are in an entirely different world. Do you suppose your cousins brought it over?"

He seems to recall something the Pevensies had told him about Christmas in Narnia, a celebration they had had or a visit they had gotten or something, but it is a very muddy memory now. Clearer is the information he'd read in the Paravel library of the Cordial and Horn and Sword - the Holy Gifts, as they are called here. "They met Father Christmas," he tells Jill, "right when they first got into Narnia. So it must have existed beforehand."

"Father Christmas!" Jill repeats in shock, and it sounds as though she might go on, except Eustace goes on.

"It was right before the battle with the witch. They got presents."

"Presents!" She looks so impressed by this that Eustace wishes he'd known about Christmas before hand, so that he may have gotten her one. Too late now, he supposes.

The wind huffs again, shaking the canvas walls of the tent so that even Jill looks up in alarm. The fire in the middle of the room flickers feebly. "We haven't even got a chimney," Jill says, "Although - is that how it even works here?"

"I think he'd had a sled," Eustace says doubtfully. The fire flickers again.

Jill is reading the entry again, finger once more sliding along the page. "The holiday is celebrated with a feast," she says, "and a snowball fight - I wonder if it's anything like the dance - and gift-giving. I'm afraid I don't have anything for you."

"Neither do I," he admits.

A huff of wind batters the tent and the light of the oil lamp flickers in protest. Jill purses her lips. "No chance of a sleigh getting through that. I suppose we'll have to accept the inevitable and conclude that the only gifts we are receiving are each other's presence."

Eustace snickers and Jill looks superior and pleased at the success of her pun. She leans back and closes the book rather decidedly. "Happy Christmas, Eustace. And I think I'm ready to sleep, now."

He's used to her sudden decision to sleep; Jill was exactly the same all the journey through Ettinsmoor. One moment, she'd be carrying on a conversation with Puddleglum about the likelihood of spotting any geese so far north; next, she'd be interrupting her own sentence to decide she was ready for bed. It is an odd quirk, to be sure, but Eustace had gotten accustomed to it soon enough.

Jill scrunches down beneath her covers until only the tip of one ear and her mouse-brown hair are showing. Eustace listens for her to finish moving before he leans over to the stand on which the oil lamp sits. "Night, Pole," he says, and a muffled reply comes from the lump of blankets in the other bed. And with that, Eustace extinguishes the lamp and bathes the tent in darkness.

It seems much colder the minute the light is gone, which is clearly just his head playing tricks on him. Eustace pulls his blankets tight around him and squeezes his eyes, pretending he's in his warm bed at Cair Paravel or on the hot, sticky Lone Islands. If he can convince himself, just for a moment, that he's somewhere hot, surely he won't realize just how cold it really is.

A hot fire and hot bed and hot, sticky air, he imagines. The picture in his mind has almost become real when a sudden burst of cold swirls about over his head. It's such a shock that Eustace sits up in alarm, while Jill whimpers from her bed.

"Sirs," cries the messenger standing in the opening where the tent's flap had last been tied down. Snow is swirling all about the space.

Eustace waves at the messenger irately until he realizes that in the dark it's near impossible to see the action. "Come in, if you have to. But don't leave the tent flap open."

"Pardon," the messenger responds, and steps inside, pulling the flap closed behind him. One last puff of snow lands on Eustace's face before he manages to wipe it away. "Sirs, the king requests your presence in his tent at once."

If he were still in the wilderness, there wouldn't be such disturbances after lights out - except, of course, for waking up for night's watch. Eustace decides that however irritating a summons from the king may be, he much prefers it to staying up half the night to watch for stray giants.

Jill doesn't at all move until Eustace is out of his bed and has lit the lamp again; then, slowly, she emerges from her cocoon of covers. "Did he say what he needed us for?" she asks, and the messenger nervously shakes his head.

Eustace doesn't bother to dress completely - the tunic and trousers he'd worn to bed are the same he'd worn all day, and he completes the outfit by pulling on a leather jerkin and his heavy, wool cloak. When he looks up, Jill is waiting with her own cloak.

The king's tent isn't that far from theirs, not really. In the thick of the swirling snow, however, it might as well be the End of the World; he and Jill find themselves battling against the wind as snow crawls down their backs, struggling not to fall behind as the messenger leads them forward. Eustace would have thought it wouldn't seem so miserable after that storm outside Harfang but apparently snowstorms aren't something one can grow accustomed to easily.

A gleam in the midst of the swirling grey grows until they find themselves standing outside the king's tent. The messenger is the first to duck inside; Eustace shivers and pulls his cloak tighter around himself, stamping his feet to keep them warm until Jill has stepped through the opening and it's his turn.

The king's tent is much larger than their own - fittingly so, as it also serves to house impromptu meetings and strategic planning. King Rilian is standing off the right, the cup in his hand held against his chin and a look of astonishment on his face. On the other side of the room is a large man with a thick, grey beard standing over a full velvet bag.

Eustace may have heard the stories from his cousins, he may have discussed the details with Jill, but he had certainly not held much hope to ever meet the man himself. He supposes this would be a good time to greet the man but although his mouth has opened, not a word came out. It seems that Rilian is similarly stunned, and the messenger is hesitantly shifting from one foot to the next.

It is Jill who is the first to step forward and curtsy in her awkward, hesitant manner. "Happy Christmas, sir."

"Indeed it is," says Father Christmas, "Although not, I fear, as happy as it could be. It seems that the result of your quest has only led to more strife in this country."

"We're sorry," Eustace manages.

The man turns to him and fixes him in his stare. "I did not mean to say that your actions were wrong but merely commenting on the political climate. Each action you take shall have consequences; it is up to you to decide how to respond to these."

"Yes, sir," Eustace says, and Jill repeats his words.

"But let us turn to lighter talk," Father Christmas continues, "This is the first Christmas in a great many years to be graced with the presence of children from Beyond World's End. As such, I come with gifts for the both of you." He bends down to reach into the sack at his side. Somehow, despite how very full the bag is, the item he is looking for is easily located.

"Jill Pole," he says, and she steps forward in anticipation. He holds out his hand, and on it rests a bronze chain that gleams in the lamplight. "For you, I give the gift of disguise. This is not infallible; should someone know to look through the spell they shall see your true identity. But it will help, I think."

Jill takes it in her hand with a murmured thanks, fingering the links with reverence. There is a pendent hanging from the chain, a six-point star with a shining emerald in the centre.

Father Christmas is again straightening from his bag. Eustace steps forward and for one moment feels disappointment at the sight of the leather-bound book. Couldn't he have received a weapon like his cousins or an enchanted chain like Pole?

"For you, Eustace Scrubb," Father Christmas says, "Knowledge can be a tool, one that must not be abused. This book shall open to any page that rests in the library of Cair Paravel, provided you know what you are looking for."

"Thank you, sir."

Eustace is so wrapped up in examining his book - the leather is a gorgeous, faded red, the pages a clean and crisp white - that he hardly notices as the messenger is given a new dagger. And then, with a jolly laugh and a proclaimed, "And a happy Christmas to you all!" Father Christmas sweeps up his bag and strides out into the storm.

Rilian shakes himself as though waking from a trance. "Of all the things I had expected to encounter on this campaign, Father Christmas was not one of them."

"Did he even give you a gift?" Jill asks in concern.

At the query, Rilian lifts a shining silver sword and a shield emblazoned with the red lion. "Never before have I seen a sword like this," he says, "save for the Holy Sword of King Peter."

-x—

End.


End file.
